Task Force Alleges Misuse of L.A. School Transfer Rules : Education: A report advises administrators and faculty to do more to resolve a student’s problems before sending the youth to another campus.

A Los Angeles schools task force Thursday called for closer scrutiny of a controversial policy that allows principals to transfer troubled, often violent youngsters from one campus to another.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials acknowledged in a report released Thursday that so-called opportunity transfers have been misused by some campus administrators to rid their schools of difficult students.

The report, created at the request of West Valley board member Julie Korenstein, called for teachers and administrators to make a greater effort to resolve a student’s troubles before dumping the youth at another school.

“If the kid is having problems, we need to resolve them on that campus,” Korenstein said. “Otherwise, they are just going to be a problem on another campus. We’re not getting to the crux of the problem; we’re just moving it around.”

The school board agreed Thursday to oversee changes in the opportunity transfer system, and called for a final vote on the matter in June.

Critics say the transfers have often resulted in students being moved from school to school until they drop out or, in an increasing number of cases, they commit a serious crime.

Contrary to district policy, most of the transfers have been used as a punishment rather than a chance for a student experiencing academic or social problems to get a fresh start.

And although several thousand students are issued opportunity transfers each year, neither the district nor individual schools keep a record of the outcome of such transfers.

The school board Thursday called for a better accounting of the transfers.

The campus shooting death of a 17-year-old Reseda High School student Feb. 22 renewed criticism of the longtime practice.

He had been transferred to Reseda twice from Taft High School and told friends he feared for his safety at the Reseda campus.

The 15-year-old boy accused in the killing had been transferred from two different junior high schools and once to a special high school for students with discipline problems before ending up at Reseda.

The report by the 15-member district task force called for review of the transfer policy, but defended the need for principals to continue transferring students who are being threatened by rivals.

“The transfers are useful, but the implementation and the procedures need to be reviewed,” said Hector Madrigal, one of the district employees who worked on the report.

Times staff writer Henry Chu contributed to this story.